


The Hacker From Inaba

by SquidKidCelebi



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Character tags to be added when they appear, I've seen people compare Futaba's shadow and awakening to P4 so I made a fic about it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 16,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26215027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquidKidCelebi/pseuds/SquidKidCelebi
Summary: When a series of murder cases threatens the peace and tranquility of the quiet town of Inaba, a group of teens band together to find the one responsible by entering televisions and fighting monsters. One of those teens just so happens to be a renowned hacker.AKA Futaba is in Persona 4 and joins the Investigation Team
Comments: 7
Kudos: 28





	1. The Pyramid

6/12 - Daytime

It had only been a few weeks since the members of the Investigation Team rescued Kanji from the TV World. Nobody had seen any potential targets on the news since, which is why it came as a shock when they found out someone was on the Midnight Channel only a few nights ago. And what’s more, the person that appeared on the show was someone who they were sure was never mentioned nor shown on any program, throwing their entire TV appearance theory out the window. Futaba Sakura; the name didn’t ring any bells to anyone, even asking around provided almost no results. They only found a lead due to someone who frequented a small cafe in the shopping district owned by someone with the same last name. 

Sojiro Sakura, the cafe’s owner, was surprisingly happy to provide details on the missing girl he was giving shelter to. Her mother had passed and her father, well, he didn’t know, but it had left her in a depressive slump that took a while to recover from. She was relatively anti-social, almost never went outside, and had an affinity for technology, anime and video games. They figured that would be enough information to find her, considering any more would probably be prying and they wouldn’t get anything better from anyone else. Sakura-san had insisted on serving up some coffee before they left, and once everyone had finished their cup, they left for Junes and the world inside the TV. With the information they got, Teddie was able to sniff out their target and he led the way to where this Futaba Sakura was located.

That was how they ended up in a huge pyramid-like structure.

The halls of the dungeon twisted and turned like a labyrinth. Hieroglyphs lined the walls, as well as what looked to be Ancient Egyptian murals of some kind. Ms. Sofue would probably be geeking out if she were here. Futaba’s shadow, who was dressed in some Pharaoh outfit, had appeared a few times, but she didn’t say much, and she seemed rather uninterested with the group as a whole. As they climbed further up, they could hear voices, not only of who they assumed was Futaba, but of others, leading them to believe they were some sort of memory. Once they reached the top, Yu swung the door open without a second thought.

The room looked to be almost entirely made of bricks of sandstone, and the walls were tilted such that they formed a point up top. Pillars stood in the four corners of the room, holding up the tilted ceiling. A stretch of carpet was rolled from the doors to the very back in which a few steps led up to a smaller platform. In front of them stood Futaba, and in front of her, on that platform, stood her shadow. Those familiar yellow eyes of the shadow pierced into the girl’s brown, staring her down.

“Futaba-chan!” Yukiko shouted.

The orange-haired girl turned around, looking both confused and startled.

“What the-- w-who are you guys?” She asked.

“So you came all this way...” The shadow’s distorted voice caused the attention to turn to them.

“And what do you want?” Futaba looked annoyed at her other self. “All you’ve been doing is pestering me since I got here!”

“And why do you think I’m doing that?”

“Uh, because you’re annoying, I dunno!”

“It is because of that which you hide away.”

“Hide away? What do you mean, I’m just some normal kid!”

Her shadow cracked a smile and laughed. “Normal? Don’t make me laugh. We both know that’s not true.”

Futaba’s once agitated expression became one of confusion. “What do you--”

“Face it; you were never normal to begin with.” Her shadow began making her way towards the girl. “Remember, in elementary school? You were able to memorize the titles of every book on the top shelf without a second glance.”

“Hey, Sh-shut up!”

“The other kids didn’t believe you, so you recited everything to them just to prove it. And what did they do? They laughed it off and called you a freak. A weirdo.”

“I’m not listening!” She covered her ears, but her shadow continued.

“And when your mom died and you moved to Inaba with Sojiro, you thought you could finally try and live that ‘normal’ life you so desperately wanted. But all you did was shut yourself in your room all the time! And you know why? Because you’re afraid. Afraid of being seen as the weird kid by anyone.”

“How would you know, huh?” Futaba snapped. 

“Because, I am you… and you are me.”

“No, there’s no way...”

“No, don’t!” Yosuke yelled out, but it was too late.

“There’s no way! You can’t be me! You’re NOT me!”

Silence filled the room for a moment. Futaba’s shadow scoffed, then proceeded to laugh as darkness consumed her. Futaba herself then ran behind one of the pillars in the room as the rest of the team stood their ground. What emerged before them was a giant sphinx-like creature.

“I AM A SHADOW… THE TRUE SELF…” its voice boomed. “IF YOU’RE SO UNWILLING TO ACCEPT WHO YOU ARE, THEN I WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO DEVOUR YOU WHOLE.”

“Alright, let’s give it everything we got!” Yu yelled out, summoning Izanagi as everyone yelled out in agreement.


	2. A New Member

Flurries of attacks were thrown at the Shadow, from their Personas’ elemental magic to kicks and slashes. The Shadow returned fire with attacks of its own, requiring healing to be saved from multiple near-death experiences. But once everything had calmed down, Futaba’s shadow returned to its original form and the girl it belonged to stepped out from her hiding place. She cautiously approached the shadow, hesitating when she got close.

“You have to accept it,” Yu said. 

Letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, she spoke. “Yeah, you’re right. I know I’m not normal. I just didn’t want to feel like I was different from anyone else.” She smiled. “But those kids were probably jerks anyways. I’m gonna embrace that part of me from now on. I’m ready to start a new game plus!”

Her shadow smiled, transforming into a bright blue light. The light then rose into the air, taking the shape of a large UFO. 

[The strength of heart required to face oneself has been made manifest. She has obtained the facade used to overcome life’s hardships, the Persona Necronomicon!]

The team rushed to Futaba after the light disappeared, crowding around her. Yukiko stood beside her in case she collapsed from fatigue. She didn’t have the proper glasses, after all, so the fog could be affecting her.

“Now then,” she turned to face the group. “Just who the heck are you guys?”

“That’s, uh, a long story.” Yosuke rubbed the back of his neck.

“We’re investigating the cause behind the murder cases that have been taking place recently,” Yu explained. “We think this world has something to do with it.”

“This world?” Futaba tilted her head.

“The TV world,” Chie said. “Apparently someone’s been throwing people in here, so we’re here to find ‘em and kick their butts!”

“I see…” Her eyes scanned the group until her eyes landed on a certain bear. “Oh my gosh!” She ran over to him, rubbing his fur and inspecting the costume. “Your fur is so soft, your paws are so fluffy! It’s like you’re a giant plushie!”

“I’m Teddie!” The bear said.

“And you can talk too? Wow, you’re so cool!”

He blushed. “My, my, do you want to score with me too?”

“Aaaaaaand I’ve immediately lost all interest.”

As the bear was getting over the harsh rejection and Yukiko had once again asked the mascot suit to drop the scoring thing, everyone introduced themselves to the new Persona user and made their way out of the pyramid to the Studio Backlot. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group made it back safely to their own world, exchanging phone numbers at Futaba’s request, as well as for some reason asking to see Yosuke’s phone, before letting her make her way back home. Yu had told her via text of their meeting spot at Junes and that they’d be venturing into the TV every so often for training. He also informed her that they should meet up tomorrow as well and to get plenty of rest, as she must be tired out.

The next day, after the rest of the group had gotten out of school, they all met up at their table at Junes. Futaba had arrived just a little later.

“Yo,” she greeted. “I told Sojiro I was meeting up with you guys. He seemed surprised but let me go without much questioning.”

“That’s good,” Yosuke said.

“So what’d you guys want to talk about?”

“We wanted your input on our theory regarding the cases.”

“A while ago, we came to the conclusion that only people who had been on TV were kidnapped,” Yu explained. “Yukiko and Kanji had fit the criteria, but you’re the outlier.”

“On TV, huh?” She thought for a moment. “Oh, I was technically on TV recently.”

“I’ve watched the news every day,” Yosuke crossed his arms. “I didn’t see you or anyone like you once.”

“I was never shown, yeah, but there was a news story about me. Remember the one hacker story? With Medjed?”

Yu did remember seeing a story on the news that highlighted the Medjed hacker group. A few of their members had been outed because of another, independent hacker by the name of Alibaba. He had only remembered it because of Nanako asking some questions about it, a few of which were easier to answer than others for his six year-old cousin. If Futaba said she was on TV and she was referencing that one story, then…

“Are you Alibaba?”

“Bingo.” She pushed her glasses up.

“Woah, seriously?” Chie exclaimed. “That’s awesome!”

“Wait, ain’t that kind of stuff illegal?” Kanji asked.

“Only if it’s being used for illegal things. I only use my skills for justice.”

“Well if we have someone with your skills on our side, it could help us in the long run.” Yu smiled.

“You can count on me!” She gave a thumbs up and smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6/15 - After School

“Is there somebody else in there now?” 

Everyone had agreed to meet up at the electronics department at Junes at their leader’s request. Confused as to why exactly they were heading into the TV again, Futaba looked at her new companions in an attempt to get some explanation.

“There’s just something we need to get you, that’s all. Don’t worry.” Yu took out a pair of glasses as did everyone else, putting them on and hopping inside before any more questions could be asked. Futaba hopped in after Kanji and they appeared in the Backlot where the bear was waiting for them.

“Wait, what do we need in here specifically? I don’t see how we can find anything in here with all this fog.”

“That’s actually why we came here.” Chie said.

Teddie moved to stand in front of the orange-haired girl, presenting a pair of glasses that looked much like her own with a set of multi-colored bars on one of the handles. “These are special Teddie-made glasses just for you, Futa-chan! They have lenses that let you see through the fog on this side!”

Taking the glasses and putting her own away for a second, Futaba put them on. “Woah, you’re right,” she said, looking around. “It’s like the fog’s not even there. And I can even see clearly.” She looked back at the bear. “You made these?”

“Yep! I’m a very dextrous bear!”

“These glasses are proof that you’re officially a member of our team,” Yu said.

“Nice. I might actually keep these on all the time if they function like normal ones...”

“Hey, by the way,” Kanji caught her attention for a second. “Your Persona, what’s it do?”

“What?”

“Like how mine has healing abilities,” Yukiko said. “And how Chie’s is more physical focused.”

“Oh yeah, we never did get to see your Persona in action."

“Hm, well, let’s see...” A card floated down in front of Futaba and when it got close, she threw a hand up in the air as if redying to cast a spell, and in one swift motion brought it down. “Necronomicon!”

In an instant, the card shattered as a familiar UFO appeared above the girl. Tentacle-like tendrils appeared, wrapping around her and pulling her upwards, which freaked her out as well as everyone else. Once she disappeared into the ship, all was silent for a moment.

“Futaba-chan?” Yukiko called out, concern in her voice.

“Yo, this is awesome!” Futaba’s voice came as if she was speaking through a phone directly to them. “It’s like some sort of super computer!”

“Wait, so, what does that mean?” Yosuke asked.

“I can see so much here; your strengths, your weaknesses, practically everything about your Personas and capabilities!”

“So you’re sorta like a guide, yeah?” Kanji asked.

“I guess so.”

“My nose hasn’t been working too well,” Teddie said. “But now with Futa-chan’s Persona, we shouldn’t have to worry!”

“She could probably keep track of the Shadows we fight, too,” Chie suggested.

“Then I guess that makes me your new nav!”

“Our what now?” Kanji said, confused.

“Nav. Like navigator. Jeez, get with the times.” Her Persona lowered just a few feet above the ground and then disappeared, dropping Futaba who landed with ease.

“Wait, then what about me?” Teddie sounded saddened.

Futaba patted his head. “I could always use a second in command, just in case something goes wrong.” The bear perked up at that and nodded.

“Well, now that we got what we came here for,” Yu started, “we should probably head back.”

Everyone said their goodbyes to their bear companion and returned to Junes. As they exited, they took off their glasses, putting them away in their pockets, aside from Futaba who kept hers on. Since they weren’t much different from her own and worked as well as a regular pair, she decided it would be easiest to just use them instead and keep her original pair as a spare. Teddie could always make another pair if something happened, anyways.

“Welp, I oughta get back home,” she said. “I’m gonna make like a tree. See ya.”

After she left, the rest of the group decided to head back to their own homes. Yu checked the weather as soon as he got back. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like it was going to rain for a while. The only thing they had to worry about was the school campout.

At least it would be peaceful for a few days.


	3. Missing Idol

6/22 - After School

The Midnight Channel had only just aired the previous night. Rise Kujikawa, otherwise known as the famous idol Risette, seemed to be their next target, or so Yosuke had insisted. Everyone besides Futaba,who was at home, was gathered around the second years’ desks, discussing their next course of action. The Kujikawas ran a tofu shop in the shopping district as they had heard from their classmates, and if they were right, Rise would be there too. It was probably a long shot, but if they could find Rise and warn her of the potential danger she was in, it was possible they could prevent the next kidnapping.

“Alright,” Yosuke said. “let’s go to Marukyu, but remember that we’re going on an investigation, not just so we can see Risette.”

“Was that to remind us or yourself?” Kanji muttered.

“Should we pick up some tofu while we’re there, too?” Yu asked.

“Sure, don’t see why not.”

Yosuke’s phone buzzed, indicating a text.

> Ooh! Get me some Ganmodoki!

“Wait, Futaba!?” He looked at his phone wide-eyed. 

“How did you even know what we were talking about?” 

> I snuck an app onto Yosuke’s phone.  
> I can hear whatever I want whenever I want through it.

“No wonder you wanted my phone.” He groaned.

“Why only Yosuke-senpai, though?”

> You guys’s phones are so outdated!  
> I mean come on, flip phones? In this day and age?

“She does have a point. Maybe I should look into a new phone...” Yu trailed off

“That’s what you’re worried about?” He sighed. “Fine, we’ll get you some ganmo, but you’re paying me back, okay?”

> Fine by me

Yosuke put the phone away. “Let’s go already.” He proceeded to walk away. The other two boys followed him out of the classroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6/24 - After School

After Rise was warned about the Midnight Channel, the group decided to attempt a stakeout the next day. A stalker was found just outside of Marukyu and they got him in no time. Everyone thought that the killer was caught and the case was closed. The Midnight Channel, however, proved otherwise, as it appeared that Rise was taken as they chased the guy down according to her grandmother at the tofu shop. Now she was in the TV world, which meant it was once again time for a rescue mission. It wasn’t as easy as they thought, though, as the little information they had on the idol wasn’t enough for Teddie and Futaba.

“No good,” she sighed. “I’m getting no results at all. Any luck, Ted?”

The bear sniffed the air a few times before shaking his head. “I’m not picking anything up. There’s bearly anything to go on.”

“Never thought finding someone in here would be this hard.” Futaba dropped out of Necronomicon and turned to the others. “How in the world did you guys find me?”

“We had to ask around town for information, mostly,” Yu said. “Same with Kanji.”

“Ugh, I hate fetch quests.”

“Well, Narukami does have a knack for finding info,” Yosuke put a hand on his partner’s shoulder. “This shouldn’t take too long.”

“Well in that case, I guess I could see if anyone online has anything.”

“Why not come with us?” Yukiko asked.

“Yeah, well, my social skills aren’t exactly the greatest.” She stretched. “Anyways, I’m gonna go home and do some research, although I have no doubt Yu’s got this handled.” Futaba poked her head into the TV and left only a few seconds later.

“Guess we ought to get started, too, huh?” Yosuke asked. It was a unanimous agreement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6/25 - After School

Like the previous two times this happened, Yu had no trouble finding information; Rise was having problems between her public idol personality and her “true self”. As soon as he found what he needed, he called everyone to Junes and they entered the TV world. The nav and her right-hand immediately began searching as soon as their leader filled the latter in on the info he had gathered.

“I’m getting a reading!” Futaba called out. “Ted, can you confirm?”

“Aye, aye!” He gave a thumbs up. 

“Well, what are we waiting for? Lead the way!”

Teddie led the party to their destination as Futaba followed behind in Necronomicon. With Kanji’s dungeon being what it was, as well as the pyramid, they honestly expected anything at this point.

Well, anything was a loose statement, considering they didn’t exactly expect to show up at the front doors of a strip joint.

Futaba, who had dropped down once they approached the dungeon, stared at the building in front of her. Saying she was feeling awkward was an understatement. It was even more of an understatement once they all went inside.

“I… really don’t think I should be in here.”

“I don’t think any of us should be in here,” Kanji said. “But we gotta save this chick so there’s no backing out of this.”

“Yeah…”

Teddie was somewhat confused as to why they shouldn’t be in there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously though, why is Yosuke the only one with a smartphone in the anime?


	4. Existentialism at its Finest

As if walking through the place wasn’t uncomfortable enough, the silence that washed over the team made it even worse. Not to mention, the shadows that were inside were more or less… thematically appropriate.

Except the Arcane Turret; nobody had a clue why a tank was in a striptease.

The voice of Rise’s Shadow came through what they assumed to be a loudspeaker each time they ascended to the next floor. Teddie was lightly bopped on the head every time to make sure he was paying attention to their mission instead of what the Shadow was saying. Once at the top floor, everyone mentally prepared themselves for what lied on the other side of the curtains blocking their way.

Atop the stage in the center of the room was Rise and her Shadow, the former attempting to divert her gaze from her other self, while the latter simply held onto the pole in the middle of the platform. 

“You’re finally here, ahaha!” the Shadow giggled. “Now the show can really begin!”

“Stop, please…” Rise pleaded.

“Stop? No way! Don’t you want everyone to see who you really are?” it began to spin around the pole. “Come on, see the real Risette right before your very eyes!”

“That’s enough!”

“‘Enough’ you say; why, I hardly think it’s anything at all! This is the real Risette, right here! You’re me, and I’m you.”

“No, you’re…”

“Don’t!” Chie cried out, but it was too late.

“You’re not me!”

The Shadow’s small giggles erupted into laughter as darkness surrounded it. In a matter of seconds, it emerged as a multicolored nightmare humanoid with what could only be described as a solar panel for a face.

“Teddie, take care of Rise!” Futaba said, hopping into her Persona. “I’ll handle this.”

The bear escorted Rise to a safer part of the room as everyone else got ready to take on the monster in front of them. With their Personas summoned, the team started to throw attacks at the Shadow.

“Wait!” Futaba’s call came a little too late as Yosuke sent out a Garu. It was promptly sent back at him with full force. “It seems to have a barrier up. Your attacks won’t get through.”

“Great,” Yosuke said, picking himself off the ground. “So we can’t damage this thing at all?”

“Not necessarily. There are some smaller objects creating the barrier.” Sure enough, four orb-like objects sat where the corners of the barrier were. “If you can get rid of those, it should be disabled.”

“Understood,” Yu said. Their attacks were now directed at the orbs. They were fairly weak and went down without much of a fight. But as quickly as they went down, more took their place. 

“They just keep coming…” Chie muttered.

“Hehehe! Enjoying yourselves?” The shadow laughed. “Guess it’s time I give you something in return!” Just then, the panel on its face began glowing.

“Guard up!” Futaba yelled. “It’s going to unleash something deadly!”

They barely had time to react before a laser beam shot out from the center of the panel, hitting everyone and leaving them in bad condition. 

“It nearly took us out in one go…” Kanji said. “And we can’t even hit it back.”

“This is bad…” She panicked, looking at her options but finding none. “Ted, take Rise and get out of here!”

“B-but what about you guys?”

“She’s right,” Yu called out. “You have to save her.”

“But I can’t abearnden you! I don’t want to be alone again!”

Light shone in the direction of the Shadow. It was getting ready to unleash another attack, but this time, it was likely they wouldn’t survive.

“Time for the finale!” The Shadow said. “Goodbye… forever.”

Just then, Teddie ran out from his safe spot and in front of the group.

“You dummy! What are you doing?” Futaba asked.

“I don’t know! It’s like my body is moving on its own! But I feel a surge of energy!”

A powerful aura surrounded the bear, and Rise’s Shadow stopped charging as if surprised by this change.

“His power level is rising fast! If he throws all that at the barrier...” 

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I feel I’m going bear-serk!”

“Listen, if you go for the barrier, you should be able to break through!” Futaba smiled and stood at the edge of her non-existent seat. “Knock ‘em dead, Ted!”

Teddie launched himself head-first at the barrier protecting the Shadow with a resounding roar. Within a matter of seconds, it began to crack before completely shattering, and his momentum carried him right to the Shadow. An explosion of light caused the team to shield their eyes, and once it disappeared, Rise’s Shadow was back to its original form, lying on the stage. Teddie was now flattened, sitting right in front of the stage.

“Teddie!” Kanji yelled as everyone gathered around him. Futaba dropped down and ran to the bear.

“Did I help?” He asked.

“Of course you did, you dummy!” She offered a hand, which he gladly accepted, and pulled him up to stand.

“What in the-- my fur!” Teddie looked at himself. “And I was so proud of it too…”

“You look as flat as a pancake,” Yosuke said.

Futaba snickered. “Pancake Teddie.”

“Don’t we have something else to worry about?” Yu mentioned.

Everyone turned to the stage. Rise was now up there with her Shadow, looking down at it. Futaba stayed behind with Teddie as the rest of the group ran up on stage.

Taking a deep breath, Rise walked over to the other her, extending a hand. “Here, get up.” Her Shadow looked at her for a second before taking it. “You really are a part of me, I was too afraid to accept it. I think there’s no real me after all. Every part of myself, they’re what make me up.”

As her shadow melted into light, another form took its place; a woman with long red hair, a white dress flowing behind her, and a set of panels attached to her head.

[The strength of heart required to face oneself has been made manifest. She has obtained the facade used to overcome life’s hardships, the Persona Himiko!]

The light disappeared as Rise gained her new Persona. She nearly collapsed before Yosuke caught her. The team introduced themselves to her and explained their situation. She seemed to grasp it rather quickly, and with Yosuke’s help, stood up.

Chie began to speak. “Alright, well, with that over, we should--”

“There’s… no real me?” Teddie whispered.

“Hey, are you okay?” Yukiko asked, moving over to the bear.

“Wait, stand back. Something’s not right.” She hurried back towards the stage. “I can feel something coming from him.”

“Real? Me? Hmhmhm... such foolishness.” Another voice resounded from seemingly nowhere. Teddie himself didn’t seem to notice. In the next few seconds, a dark figure towered over the bear. It looked like a carbon copy of their companion, with the exception of those yellow eyes that seemed to at the very least unnerve the others.

“What is that!?” Yosuke asked.

“Don’t tell me… Is that Teddie’s Shadow?” Chie backed up a bit.

“I’m pretty sure,” Futaba replied. “But I felt something else there for a second too.”

“What’s everyone looking at?” Teddie asked before turning around, facing the other him. “Woah!”

“Why do you yearn for the truth?” It asked. “The fog is thick. It is impossible to see through it. So why try to grab the truth if what you’re reaching for may not even be what you want? It would be much smarter to simply live in blissful ignorance.”

“What are you talking about?” He tensed up. “You’re just making it sound more complicated because I’m not smart! I’m thinking as hard as I can, you know!”

“And that is exactly what I call useless. You are nothing but an empty shell, hollow. You know this at your core and yet you refuse to accept it. You have no lost memories, the only thing you have forgotten is this.”

“That’s not true, you’re lying!”

“Are you going to make me spell it out for you? You are nothing but a mere-”

“Shut up!” Teddie threw himself at the Shadow but bounced right off.

Teddie’s Shadow looked up at the group on the stage. “As for you, all you do is suffer because of your search for this truth. How can you find something when you know not what you search for?”

“There’s always a way to find it,” Yu retorted.

The Shadow simply stared for a few seconds, narrowing its eyes. “You humans are beyond my comprehension. If it’s the truth you want, then I shall grant you it: you will all die here.” Darkness began to swarm around it and a large hole soon opened up in the ground. Two large clawed paws grabbed at the edge, pulling up the body of the nightmare in front of them. 

“Remind me why people always let the antagonists monologue?” Futaba muttered to herself as she entered Necronomicon. “Kujikawa, get behind me. You’re not fit to fight just yet.”

Rise stood behind Futaba’s Persona, watching the battle in front of her unfold.

“To think this thing came out of Teddie…” Yukiko said.

“Guess he had a lot more issues than we thought,” Yosuke added. “Let’s save him.”

The agreement to that statement was unanimous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since Futaba's the nav, I kinda needed a new role for Rise and her Shadow fight that fit the whole "you can't hurt me and I'm gonna kill you" thing. Luckily we have something called Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. And luckily in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Himiko becomes a fighting Persona.
> 
> Because why not.


	5. Bearsona

In comparison to fighting Rise’s Shadow, fighting Teddie’s Shadow was easier, especially since the nightmare bear didn’t have an invulnerable shield protecting it. But they still had to be wary considering that it could down one of them in just one attack. Rise watched intently from behind Necronomicon as the person inside gave out warnings to the team. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. That was until the Shadow began charging up some sort of dark energy ball.

“Futaba?” Yu called.

“Analyzing now.” Futaba said before going silent for a few seconds. “It’s power is rising, but it’s going up slowly. You should be safe to go in for another attack.”

That’s just what they did. Everyone sent out a rush of elemental attacks except for Chie who used physical skills as, as they found out the hard way, ice didn’t affect it at all. By the time they were done, the Shadow was still charging.

“Power’s nearing critical levels. Everyone guard up!” 

As they braced themselves, Teddie’s Shadow swiped at the team; the energy spreading out to hit all of them. The most it did was unbalance them slightly, but nothing more. It was mostly smooth sailing from there. Only once did the bear try and unleash another energy attack, but using the same method as before, they were able to avoid taking any damage. One last hit from Kanji took down the massive Shadow, dissolving into darkness before returning to it’s smaller form.

Futaba dropped out of her Persona and escorted Rise over to the others. Teddie, who was hiding out of sight and watching from afar, came out and stood in front of his other self.

“Is that really part of you, Teddie?” Yukiko asked.

He looked at his Shadow who stared back, saying not a word.

“I don’t know… who I am,” Teddie began. “I thought countless times that maybe there really is no answer. But I’m here, and this is my home…”

“Don’t worry, Teddie,” Yu said. “You don’t have to do this all on your own.”

He turned to his companions. “R-Really?”

“Heck yeah!” Futaba yelled. “We’re gonna help you find your answer no matter what!”

“As we find out more about this world, we’ll probably find something about you as well,” Yukiko added.

“Y-you guys!” He smiled, tears forming. “I’m one lucky bear!”

Behind him, his Shadow glanced around at everyone before returning his gaze to the bear. For a moment, he closed his eyes and gave a small smile before disappearing into a familiar blue light. When everyone realized what was happening, they all turned their attention to the light. Teddie stepped forwards as it took form; a round robot with a blue cape flowing behind it.

[The courage of heart to support one’s friends has been made manifest. He has obtained the facade used to overcome life’s hardships, the Persona Kintoki-Douji!]

“Is this… my Persona?” He whispered. 

He was soon hugged from behind by Futaba. “One of us! One of us!”

“Careful now,” Yosuke joked. “You might just fold him if you hug him any tighter.”

Yu cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to interrupt the celebration, but we should get Rise back.”

All eyes were on the girl, who was being supported by Chie.

“Oh yeah, your Persona just awakened too,” Futaba said.

“Come on, let’s hurry outside,” Yosuke looked to his partner, who simply nodded and popped a Goho-M, getting them all back to the entrance in less than a second.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soon enough, they were all back at the Studio Backlot, although it took some time as they walked slowly so Rise didn’t get left behind.

“Are you alright?” Chie asked. “We’re almost out.”

She nodded. “I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about Teddie.”

“Oh yeah,” Kanji mentioned. “We’re gonna have to leave you here. You gonna be okay?”

The bear looked down. “I think I want to be alone for a while. My fur is all rough, my nose hasn’t been working well, and I… I need some time to think about things.” He laid himself down on the ground and started to do sit-ups. “So in the meantime, I’m going to train real hard!”

Yosuke sighed. “What’s gotten into you?” 

“Hey, leave him be,” Futaba said. “There are times when you have to grind before you can take on the next dungeon.”

“I’m not exactly sure this is one of those times,” Chie laughed nervously.

“In any case, Chie and I can take Rise-chan home,” Yukiko helped to support the girl at Chie’s side.

“Yeah. Well then... good luck, Teddie.”

Everyone said their goodbyes to the bear before exiting through the TV. Once they were back at Junes, everyone went straight home, aside from Chie and Yukiko who dropped Rise off at Marukyu before returning to their own homes.

Nobody expected what would happen in the coming days.


	6. New Mysteries

7/10 - Daytime

Everything had been peaceful. Rise was saved, Teddie was training, and nothing was going wrong. Nobody else had been thrown into the TV, so they had nothing to worry about. That all changed when they heard the police sirens. Another body was found exactly like the first two victims of the murder case. The victim was Kinshiro Morooka; the second-year Investigation Team members’ homeroom teacher.

Futaba was on speaker through Chie’s phone. “I searched everywhere I could. There’s no news story or article of a Morooka anywhere.”

“So we’re back at square one, great,” Yosuke groaned.

“Well we can’t give up here,” Yu said. “We’re the only ones who can solve this case.”

“You said it, Senpai.” Kanji stood up. “This ain’t the time for things like that. We have to keep going.”

“Didn’t know you could be inspirational, Kanji,” Futaba joked.

“We all risked our lives to get here,” Yosuke added. “And we have a promise to keep to that bear, too.”

An idea crossed Chie’s mind. “Do you think Teddie knows anything about this?”

“It’s possible. We could go see him right now. Futaba?”

“On my way. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Wait for me, okay?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group of five waited at the entrance to the department store. Once Futaba arrived at Junes, they made their way to the electronics department and headed for the TV display. Unfortunately, a few employees were there talking between themselves, putting their plans on hold for the moment.

“Hey, is something wrong?” Yosuke said.

“Ah, Yosuke-kun,” the female employee said.

“Did the manager tell you about this?” the male asked.

“About what?”

“There’s been some weird mascot around for quite some time now.” He turned to the woman. “What did he say his name was again?”

“I think it was… Terry? Eddie? I’m not too sure but he did say he was looking for you.”

“At least there aren’t any customers around. Anyways, I’ll leave him to you. I have to get back to my station.” The two employees walked off.

Yosuke stared in shock for a moment. “Mascot? Oh, please don’t tell me he’s actually…”

Futaba turned her head. “Woah!” She yelled in surprise. “He’s here!”

Everyone turned to look. Sure enough, their beloved bear friend was sitting in one of the massage chairs on display. They all rushed over immediately.

“Oh, hey guys!” He greeted.

“Teddie?” Yukiko said, shocked. “You can come out of the TV world?”

“Well duh, there’s an exit. I just never thought about doing it before now. You guys just sparked my curiosity and so I wanted to see what it was like on your side.” He smiled. “I didn’t know where to go, and I didn’t want to go back, so I just waited until you guys came! Someone asked for my name so I just said ‘I’m Teddie’!”

“No wonder then…” Chie said under her breath.

“Everything aside, we need to ask you about something very important,” Yukiko started. “How long have you been here? Did anyone else enter the other world?”

“I stayed until the fog settled back in, but I never sensed anyone else.”

“Are you absolutely sure? Nobody else?” Yosuke asked.

“I just said so! I was all by myself over there! My nose may be bad but it’s not that bad.”

“I guess that confirms it then… King Moron really was never on the other side.”

“Hey,” Teddie said. “Can we go somewhere? I want to see more of your world!”

They looked amongst each other. Yu shrugged. “Let’s go to the food court first. We need to discuss this further.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The seven of them gathered around their usual table at the Junes food court. Futaba snacked on some chips and tried to snag one of Kanji’s animal crackers, but her hand was swatted away before it could even reach the bag. Everyone else just had a bottle of juice or water.

“Just so we’re sure on this,” Yosuke started, “you’re absolutely sure that nobody else was on the other side, right?”

“Yes, that’s what I’ve been saying,” Teddie replied, clearly fed up with the repetitive questioning.

“He wasn’t on the Midnight Channel, either,” Chie mentioned. 

“So King Moron was never thrown into the TV, but why?”

“Maybe the killer never intended to,” Yu suggested.

“Oh yeah, that would make sense.” Futaba took a sip of her juice. “We did stop them the last few times, it would make sense to try a different method.”

“All we can hope for is that Rise has any clues…”

Teddie sighed. “It’s really hot out.” He started reaching for the zipper on the back of his suit. “I’m taking this off.”

He was promptly stopped by Yosuke. “Dude, not while there’s kids around. Seeing an empty mascot suit walking around would scar them for life.”

“Actually, I’m not hollow anymore! I trained really hard, and now I finally have an inside!”

“Logically impossible,” Futaba said, munching on her chips. “Matter can’t be created, so there’s no way you could create anything inside you out of thin air.”

“I’m glad your fur’s back to normal, though,” Yukiko said.

Yosuke shook his head. “Dude, you’re hollow. Taking your head off won’t cool you down.”

“I just said I’m not!” The bear was sweating bullets by this point. “Argh, I can’t stand this anymore!”

He managed to grab hold of the zipper, pulling it around before removing his head entirely. Inside the suit was not empty air, but a human boy; blonde hair swept to the side and deep blue eyes. He reached for the bottle of water in front of him before chugging it down. Everyone else just stared in shocked silence.

“Hey Chie-chan, Yuki-chan?” He said. He sounded like Teddie, but a lot more… smooth.

“Y-yeah?” Chie could barely even form words.

“Do you have anything to wear? I’m basically like a newborn at the moment.” He laughed nervously.

“Um… when you say that,” Yukiko started. “Do you mean you’re…”

“Hold it! Teddie, don’t take the bottom off, please. We’ll take you around Junes and find you something.” 

Chie and Yukiko both started walking towards the elevators. He nodded and hopped out of his chair, following the two girls.

“The dude grew a body inside himself?” Kanji asked.

“Good for him,” Yu said.

Futaba just stared before resuming eating her chips. “Huh, guess I stand corrected.”

Yosuke shook his head. “Just… what in the world is he?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question: Should I keep it canon and have Teddie live at Yosuke's OR... do we have Futaba (and by extension Sojiro) take Teddie in? The former would just have everything as it is in the base game while the latter... I'm thinking Ted gets to work in LeBlanc instead of Junes OwO? Also some potential shenanigans with the two most chaotic characters, that's always fun.


	7. From Bear to Boy

“Aw yeah! It’s finally the season for Topsicles again!”

The three boys and Futaba stood in the shopping district, eating Topsicles under the blazing summer sun as they waited for the others to return. Kanji had already eaten two and was finishing a third. He still had two more to go through after that.

“Dude, how many are you going to eat?” Yosuke asked. “You’re going to get sick at this rate.”

“Hey, sorry we’re late.”

Turning to the source of the call, they saw Chie and Yukiko coming from down the street. A little ways behind the girls was the blonde boy from earlier. Once he caught up, all eyes were on him.

“Woah, is that you, Teddie?”

“Yep, the one and only!” He put his hands on his hips. “So what do you think?”

“Nice,” Yu clapped.

“Yeah, you don’t look half bad,” Futaba said, bumping him on the shoulder.

“Please don’t encourage him,” Chie muttered. “I had my doubts at first, but he’s Teddie alright. Everything was new to him, so it all just turned into a big mess.” She turned to him. “Hey, if you’re going to be in this form, you can’t go doing whatever you want, okay?”

Teddie’s expression fell.

“Don’t be so hard on him, Chie,” Yukiko said. “Like you said, everything was new to him, so you can’t blame him for being curious.”

She sighed. “Alright, fine, don’t get so down over it. I never said I won’t forgive you.”

He immediately perked up. “Thank goodness! I thought you guys hated me now.”

“Well, guess we ought to do something for him.” Yosuke fished a 1000 yen bill out of his pocket and handed it to Kanji. “Here, take Ted and go get him some Topsicles. We’ll head over to Rise’s.”

“Dude, I can’t take this from you.”

“Just think of it as a welcome back party.”

“Wow, Yosuke, how mature of you!” Chie said. “I know mature people don’t sweat the small stuff.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Well…” She looked away nervously. “We kinda didn’t have the money for Teddie’s clothes so… we charged it all to you.”

“You WHAT? Dude, you know I just bought a motorcycle, I’m broke!”

“Well that stuff was expensive, even for Junes! Besides a little more debt won’t make much of a difference.”

“That’s not how that--”

“Yeah, I’m siding with Yosuke on this one,” Futaba said. “That’s kind of a low blow.”

“Thank you!”

“Hey, come on,” Teddie intervened. “Don’t fight over me, baby.”

“Shut up, this is your fault you know!” He stopped and inhaled, trying to compose himself. “Listen, Ted. You had better take really, really, REALLY, good care of those or I’m making your next set of clothes out of that suit of yours!”

He recoiled at Yosuke’s words. Kanji came over and patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t let it get you down. Let’s go get some Topsicles.”

“Mind if I come along?” Futaba asked. “I got my own pocket change, don’t worry.”

“Sure, come on.”

Teddie started to follow Futaba and Kanji before stopping and turning back to Yu. “Here, these are for Rise,” he said, pulling out a pair of glasses and handing it to him. “Make sure she gets them.”

“Got it,” Yu replied.

The blonde ran back to catch up with the other two.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three of them stood outside the ice cream shop, Topsicles in hand. Teddie seemed to really enjoy the cold treat, and he still had four left. Kanji and Futaba were busy snacking on their own. The girl put her phone away and took another bite out of her Topsicle.

“Yosuke just texted. They’re all at the shrine right now,” she said.

“Guess we should meet up with them then.” Kanji started walking, as did the other two.

Futaba walked alongside the blonde. “So, what do you think about this place so far?”

“It’s beary nice!” He smiled. “There’s just so many new things I never knew even existed, it’s all so exciting!”

“Good to know you’re having fun.” She bit off the last of her Topsicle. “There’s not much to do around here, unless you count Junes. Okina’s the closest place around here, but even then it’s a good ways away.”

“Is that bad?”

“Depends on how you look at it. This place is known for not really having anything noteworthy… well, before the murder case and all. The quiet countryside does appeal to a handful of people. Though considering your situation, I doubt you’d find it boring here anytime soon.” She paused for a second. “By the way, any luck with the whole memories thing?”

“No…” Teddie looked down. “I still have no idea who I am…”

Silence washed over them for a few moments. Futaba nudged him in the arm. “Hey, come on. We said we’d help you, didn’t we? Nothing’s changed about that.”

He nodded. “Yeah, thanks Futa-chan.”

“No problem. Now then, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“How in the world are you taller than me?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time they arrived at the shrine, Yu and the others were already finished talking with Rise.

“Yo, how’s it going?” Futaba walked over to them, followed by Kanji.

“Dude, Teddie ate five Topsicles,” he said. “But if you count the ones I had before, that makes six, so I still win.”

“No one asked…” Yosuke muttered.

“Hey, you go to Yasogami, right?” Rise asked. “I’ll be starting school there tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s... cool.”

“So where’s Teddie?”

“Over at the entrance, finishing up his last Topsicle,” Futaba said. 

“By the way, what are we going to do with him?” Kanji asked.

“Oh yeah, he does need somewhere to stay…” Chie mentioned.

They looked amongst each other. 

“Well, I could ask Sojiro if he could stay at our place, but I need to make sure it’s okay with him first,” Futaba suggested. “He comes home later since he’s running LeBlanc all day. I can take him over now, and if worst comes to worst it’ll just be the one night thing we can discuss living situations tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.”

She nodded. “Well then, guess I’ll get going. See ya.” Walking towards the entrance, she waved goodbye to her companions. Teddie stood by the gate, eating the last bit of his Topsicle. “Yo, Ted.” She called. “You’re coming with me.”

He tilted his head. “Huh? Where are we going?”

“My place. We’re gonna wait for Sojiro to get back and if all goes well you’ll be living with me.”

“You mean… I get to stay with you? Really?”

“Yep. Now come on, there’s no use standing here all day.”

Futaba began walking and Teddie followed her not too far behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I decided to put Teddie with Futaba. I was debating it a little when I was posting the last 2 chapters, but then I got a lot of ideas and I was just like "F it" and made it happen. I think they can work as a "little brother-big sister" duo.
> 
> Besides this story needs more Futaba-centric chapters, considering it would kind of just be the normal story with Futaba shoved in there otherwise.


	8. Welcome Home

7/10 - Evening

As soon as the two of them got back to her house, Futaba led Teddie upstairs to her room. It was rather small in size, but it was enough to fit the two of them just fine. The boy was looking at absolutely everything inside; the computers, the posters, and literally everything else.

Futaba snapped to get his attention. “Sit.” She said seriously. He sat down on the bed behind him. “Now then, there are a few rules we need to get through your head. First and foremost, the most important rule here; number one: no touching my stuff without my permission. If I find one thing out of place you’re gonna get it, understand?”

He nodded.

“Number 2: no talking about Personas, Shadows, the TV World in general, or the case while we’re around other people. Number 3: when Sojiro gets back, you let me do the explaining. And that’s about it, okay?”

“Yeah.” He said. “But... who’s Sojiro, Futa-chan?”

“He’s technically my dad.” She explained. “You probably heard a bit about this from my Shadow but my mom died a few years ago, so I was sent out here to live with him. He was my mom’s close friend, so he decided it would be best if he took me in.” She shook her head. “Anyways, all that’s left is to wait for him to come home from work. In the meantime...” She walked over to her closet, pulling out a Gameboy Advance and a copy of Pokemon Sapphire. “How about I introduce you to something called Video Games?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You got this Ted, one more hit should take it out!”

Futaba was on her bed, looking over Teddie’s shoulder at the screen. It had been a good couple of hours; the first few minutes had been spent teaching the boy how to use a game system correctly, and then how to actually play the game. Currently, Teddie’s Marshtomp was up against Roxanne’s Nosepass. As he clicked on Water Gun, they watched as the last sliver of Nosepass’s HP went down, knocking it out and winning the battle.

“Woo! Nice going!” They high fived.

The sound of the front door opening caught Futaba’s attention. “Ah, he’s back!” She hopped off the bed. “Once you get through the rest of her dialogue, save and then come down, okay?” He nodded in reply before she rushed downstairs.

Sojiro stood at the front door, removing his coat and fedora when he spotted Futaba. “Futaba?” He asked. “Is everything alright? You’re normally not down here when I’m home.”

“Mhm, I’m fine. There’s just something I need to ask you.”

“Oh, what is it?” Teddie arrived downstairs right then. “Who’s this?”

“I’m Teddie,” He said. “It’s nice to meet you, sir.”

“It’s nice to meet you too... Futaba?”

“He’s a friend. Is it alright if he stays with us for a while?”

“What for?”

“His parents are going out of town for a few months and he needs somewhere to stay. It’s a business thing.”

Sojiro looked at the blonde, who simply nodded. Then he turned back to Futaba. “How long will this be?”

“It’s up in the air, but at least until the end of the year, possibly even longer.”

He shook his head. “Now, you know I can’t just let a random stranger stay at our house for that long.”

“But he’s not a stranger, I told you he’s my friend! Please, Sojiro? We have that empty room that’s next to mine, right? He can stay there.”

He looked at Teddie, then back at Futaba. He sighed. “Fine, he can stay.” He turned to Teddie. “But while you’re here, you have to abide by my rules, okay? And don’t try anything funny with Futaba.”

“Y-yes sir.”

He walked past the two of them to his own room. Futaba nudged him. “Don’t worry about Sojiro, he’s just a little overprotective. Now come on, let’s get to your room.” She led him upstairs once again. Past Futaba’s room was another room on the left. It was empty, save for the bed and closet.

“Now I’m assuming Chie and Yukiko didn’t buy you much aside from what you’re wearing now, so if you need night clothes, I can try and find something in my closet that might fit you.”

“Why do you need night clothes?”

“Because normal people don’t go to sleep in their regular clothes.” She walked towards the door. “Get settled in, I’ll go and look for something.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Here you go. It’s all I could find for now, so it has to make do.”

Futaba, who had since changed into her own night attire, handed him a short sleeve shirt and some shorts. 

“We can go look for some proper nightwear tomorrow, and probably an extra set of clothes while we’re at it.”

“Oh, I’m fine with these,” Teddie said.

“Yeah well those are going to have to be washed at some point, so you need something else anyways. Oh, and by the way,” She handed him the Gameboy Advance from earlier. “You can keep this. I don’t use it much anymore. But just know that it is still mine so I have priority over it.”

He nodded. 

“I’ll set aside a few more games for once you’ve finished that one. Other than that, there’s not much left we need to do right now. I guess just go to bed and we wait until tomorrow.” As if on cue, she yawned. “Night, Ted.” She turned to leave.

“Futa-chan?”

She turned back. “Yeah?”

“Thank you for letting me stay with you.”

“Eh, what are friends for, right? Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

She closed the door behind her as she walked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Futaba would be the type of person that buys both versions of a Pokemon game just to flex but probably doesn't play the other version since it's just the same game, so she just has an unplayed copy of the one she didn't play. I also imagine she has basically every system up to the 3DS. Probably has a PS3 too.


	9. Dawn of a New Day

7/11 - Early Morning

Teddie woke up just an hour after daybreak. Sunlight filtered in through the windows, giving the room some natural light. He expected to see the familiar yellow of the TV world upon opening his eyes, and was slightly confused when he instead saw the nearly empty room he was in. He moved his hand to rub his eyes and sat up, now remembering where he was now that he could look around clearly. Pulling back his hand, he examined it before laying back down, smiling to himself. The only sounds were the chirping of birds and the occasional car or motorcycle that drove past; it wasn’t much, but it was leagues better than the complete silence he would usually hear. That alone was enough to make him happy.

After a few minutes of staring at the ceiling, he decided to get out of bed and head downstairs. Upon reaching the bottom floor, he could hear something from the room just down the hall. The door was ajar and there was a little bit of light coming from inside the room. Teddie peeked inside to find Futaba sitting on the couch, the television tuned to some cartoon show. As he opened the door to walk inside, the creaking alerted the girl to his presence.

“Finally up, huh?” She said as he sat down beside her. “Junes doesn’t open for another hour. I was going to head over to LeBlanc but I figured you’d want to come along too.”

“What’s LeBlanc?”

“It’s a small cafe that Sojiro runs down in the Shopping District. We can run over there and grab some breakfast before we go to Junes.”

He nodded.

“Cool. But first you need to shower. I already got your clothes from your room. I can show you how everything works, but please don’t take anything off until I’m out of there.”

Teddie followed Futaba to the bathroom, watching her operate the shower and listening to her explain what to do since she couldn’t show him herself. After a good few minutes of explaining, Futaba left, leaving the boy to his own devices. About 20 minutes later he came out, dressed and freshened up. It wasn’t long before they began making their way to the Shopping District.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bell on the front door to LeBlanc signaled their arrival. Three large tables, two sets of booth seats each, sat against the wall. A counter separated the kitchen from the dining area, and 5 chairs stood in front of it. Behind it was a shelf full of ingredients and an alcove housing a kitchen area. There was nobody else there, but such was to be expected at that time of day in such a small town.

Sojiro sat in front of the counter, reading a newspaper before he saw the two. “Oh, you’re both here?”

“Mhm. We wanted to grab something to eat before heading out,” Futaba said. “Now come on Sojiro, I’m hungry!”

“Alright, alright,” he laughed, stepping behind the counter as Futaba took a seat and signaled Teddie to sit next to her. “How do you take your coffee?” he asked the boy.

“Coffee?”

“Never had coffee before?” Teddie shook his head in response. “In that case I’ll just brew something basic if that’s alright with you.”

“That’s fine.” He smiled. Sojiro got to work soon after.

The sound of rushing water caught both of their attention. At the sink in the back was a boy with black messy hair cleaning off a couple of the dishes. He had black glasses and sported a white button up with a black shirt underneath, as well as a pair of jeans. He also had on a green apron.

“Oh, Ren,” Futaba called. “I didn’t know you were working this early.”

“Yeah,” he turned off the water and dried the cup he had, throwing the cloth over his shoulder afterwards and walking over to the counter. “Who’s your friend, Futaba-chan?”

“This is Teddie. His parents are out for a while so he’s staying at our place.”

“Ah, I see.” He extended a hand to the boy. “Name’s Ren Amamiya. Futaba-chan and I are good friends.”

“He’s Sojiro’s apprentice, and he works here sometimes,” she explained. 

“Been learning to make coffee from this guy for a while now.” He turned to Sojiro. “Speaking of, you want me to get the coffee made while you take care of the curry?”

He nodded. “Sure, go ahead.”

Ren got started on the coffee, grabbing a couple of beans from the containers on the countertop. “So, do you work anywhere?”

Teddie shook his head.

“If you’re looking for part time jobs, I heard Junes is always looking for some help. Though, Boss here could always use some more helpers himself.”

“Now, you know I’m fine managing this place by myself,” Sojiro said. “But I wouldn’t mind you working here.”

“He gives decent pay. And there isn’t really a work schedule, you can just come in whenever.”

“I help out here from time to time too,” Futaba said. “It’s mostly just washing dishes, but I’d say go for it.”

Sojiro placed a plate in front of the both of them, full of curry. Ren gave them a cup of coffee soon after.

“Alright, curry time!” She dug in almost immediately.

Teddie took a spoonful of the curry and put it in his mouth. He widened his eyes before swallowing. “This is beary good!”

“Well duh, It’s Sojiro’s curry.” Futaba said, mouth full of food. “LeBlanc is literally known for it.”

He took a sip of the coffee afterwards. “This isn’t bad either!”

“Thanks,” The black-haired boy smiled. “I’m nowhere near Boss’s level, though.”

The two of them finished eating before long. Ren grabbed their dishes and took them to the sink.

“Thank you, sir!” The blonde said.

“Anytime, kid,” Sojiro said.

“Welp, we’re going to head out.” She hopped off the chair. “See ya, Ren!”

“See ya.”

Futaba motioned for Teddie to follow. They stopped once they were outside. “All that’s left is to go to Junes, then. You ready?”

He nodded and the two of them made their way to the department store.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7/11 - Daytime

The two of them spent a good while picking out clothes for the boy. Futaba should have specified what she meant when she said to just pick whatever he liked because he ended up with a whole lot of clothes in his arms, and they were only a few racks in. It was up to the girl to pick out a few things for him. In the end they had about 3 outfits in total. Futaba also picked up a couple of pajama sets, one of which was bear themed.

“You really do have to get a job, Ted,” she said as she paid. “You can’t mooch off of me forever, I only get so much from Sojiro.” 

“Where would I get one?”

“Well, there’s always LeBlanc.”

“Do you think there’s somewhere I could wear my Teddie fur?”

“I doubt it. Nobody really needs a mascot… unless…” She started thinking. “You know, I could try and ask Yosuke if he can do something.”

“Really?”

“Can’t guarantee it’ll work out, but it’s worth a shot.”

The two of them returned home.


	10. It's Not a Game

7/11 - After School

Considering how big their group was getting, the usual table wouldn’t fit all of them, so the group opted for the wooden picnic table under the canopy to host their meeting, and potentially all future meetings if their group continued to increase. Rise, Chie, Yosuke, and Teddie sat on one side while Kanji, Yukiko, Yu, and Futaba sat on the other. Drinks were placed in front of all of them.

“So,” Yosuke began. “What are we thinking about King Moron’s case?”

Teddie took a sip of water. “If this person had been inside the TV, I would have sensed it,” he said. 

“But the body was found on a foggy day, just like the rest...” Chie muttered to herself.

“Why target Mr. Morooka?” Yukiko asked.

Kanji sipped on his drink. “There are way too many people who hate his guts.”

“But you said all the victims appeared on TV, right?” Rise asked.

“He never appeared on the Midnight Channel or even the normal TV. With all the victims, dead and alive, you have to think it’s someone from Yasogami,” Futaba said. “Why don’t we split up and--”

“That won’t be necessary.” A voice cut her off. A young man in a blue hat walked up to the table. “You need not examine the case any further, we already have our suspect.”

“What?” Chie said, surprised. 

“How do you know?” Yosuke asked.

“I am on this case as a special investigator, by request of the prefectural police.”

“Well then who is it? Who’s the guy?” Futaba asked.

“We don’t know that yet. I have not been informed as to his name, but I do know he is a high schooler, however he is not from your school. Allegedly, he made a post on some forum claiming to be the one responsible for the murders. They also have witness testimonies that directly link him to the incident.” 

“So then why tell us? Isn’t this stuff confidential?”

“You should be glad. Your game will soon end. I thought I should at least tell you that.”

“This isn’t a game to us,” Yu spoke up. 

“So you don’t deny your involvement?”

“You’re the one who thinks of this as a game,” Rise said. “I don’t care if you’re a special investigator or some amateur sleuth, all you’re doing is solving mysteries.”

“This ‘game’ took the life of someone I care about,” Yosuke said angrily. “How could I possibly think of this as a game?” Besides,” he looked to Teddie and smiled. “We have a promise to keep.”

“Y-Yosuke…” The blonde had tears in his eyes.

The hatted boy laughed. “A game, that may be quite true.” He shook his head. “At any rate, I should get going now.” He walked off without another word.

“What was that all about?” Futaba asked. “Who is that kid?”

“Naoto Shirogane,” Yu explained. “He’s a detective. Supposedly he’s really good at it too.”

“He said they had a suspect, but will this really solve everything?” Chie asked.

Yosuke sighed. “Who knows?”

They decided to call it a day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7/11 - Evening

< Yo, Yosuke  
< I gotta ask you sum

> What’s up?

< Ted needs a job  
< We have LeBlanc as an option but he wants somewhere where he can wear the suit too  
< Think you could find something at Junes?

> Don’t c Y not  
> I’ll try 2morrow

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7/23 - After School

The students of Yasogami High had finally finished their Finals after a long week. The Investigation Team decided to hang out at Junes, inviting Futaba along as well.

“I’m kinda bummed,” Chie said. “Not just because exams are over, but the whole thing with the police finding a suspect, too.”

“Well we still don’t know yet, they haven’t made an arrest,” Yosuke mentioned. “Although, if they have a search warrant, we should stay out of it.”

It went silent after that. Rise spoke up, changing the subject. “Oh, yeah, uh... there was a question on the exam I didn’t get. If I remember correctly it was something like ‘The chemical formula HCHO is used for silver mirror reactions. Its 40% solution is known as Formalin. What is HCHO?’”

“Formaldehyde,” Yu answered.

“Oh, I see, I chose acetic acid… duh, of course it couldn’t have been vinegar.”

“Enough with exams,” Kanji groaned. 

“Anyways, any idea how Teddie’s doing?” Chie asked.

“Oh yeah, I never mentioned,” Futaba smiled and turned around in her chair, prompting everyone to turn to where she was looking. Teddie was by the picnic bench in his bear suit, handing out balloons to kids. He waved to them. “Ted needed a job, so I asked Yosuke to help out.”

“Yep,” the brunette said. “He’s now our official store mascot.”

“Ah, so he’s hiding in plain sight,” Kanji said. “He looks like one happy bear.”

Futaba smirked. “You guys wanna go bug him?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7/25 - After School

“Finally, we’re free.” Yosuke said, stretching. Kanji and RIse walked in a few seconds later. “Say, why don’t we go somewhere during summer vacation? My motorcycle’s back from the shop.”

“Do you have anywhere in mind?” Yu asked.

“I was thinking the beach. It’d be a pain by train, but a motorcycle...” 

“I haven’t been to the beach in a long time,” Yukiko said.

“Hey, why don’t we get our licenses, too?” Rise suggested. “It’s just a written test, right?”

“We can’t,” Kanji said. “We’re too young.”

“Aw, sorry Kanji. My birthday was last month, so I’m sixteen now!”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Yosuke said. “It only takes about a week.”

“It’s supposed to be for work, but there’s a scooter at the inn.”

“We got one as a gift at the office that’s just sitting around. I bet I could borrow it if I asked.”

“This is actually working out…” He looked to Chie. “What about you?”

“I might be in luck. One of our relatives loves motorcycles. Maybe he has a scooter I can borrow.”

“This might really happen then!” He brought out his phone. “You listening, Futaba?”

> I only turned 15 a few months back.  
> But I wouldn’t mind taking the train  
> And I could bring Ted along too

“Then I guess it’s settled. Let’s all get our licenses and hit the beach together!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7/26 - Evening

It was pouring rain outside, and the clock was just about to strike midnight. Futaba poked her head into Teddie’s room.

“Come on,” she said. “Midnight Channel’s about to start. There’s a TV in my room so we don’t have to worry about Sojiro.”

He followed her into her room. She sat down in her chair while Teddie stood next to it. There was a TV mounted on the wall above Futaba’s bed. The seconds started counting up; 56… 57… 58… 59…

An image made it’s way onto the television. It was a boy in an orange sweatshirt with messy hair and eyes that almost looked like they were devoid of life. He stood in what looked like some sort of castle. “You all think you can see me? You all think you know everything about me?” He said. “Then try and catch me.” The image faded out soon after.

The two of them stared at the screen. “Who is that kid?” Futaba muttered to herself. “It was different this time.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I only ever saw it once before, but from what the others say, usually there’s some blurry image of the person beforehand. It looks like they’re already inside the TV world.” 

Teddie thought for a moment. “I think I know what’s going on…”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Can I talk to Sensei, Futa-chan?”

“Yeah, I’ll call him up.”

Futaba got out her phone, finding Yu’s contact and calling him. It took a little while before he picked up.

“Hello?” He said.

“It’s me,” she said. “We just saw the Midnight Channel. Ted wants to talk to you, I’m putting you on speaker.”

She tapped the speaker button and held the phone before nodding to Teddie.

“Sensei! It’s me, Teddie!” He said. “I finally saw the Midnight Channel with my own eyes. Now I know exactly what’s happening. That guy’s suppressed emotions are resonating with the other side, which are picked up by the TVs over here. It’s clear now that it’s not being filmed by anyone.”

“But that kid is already in the other world from the looks of it. What do you say we do?”

It was silent for a moment. “We’re definitely going in after him,” Yu said. “But we need a plan first. I say we meet up first thing tomorrow at Junes.”

“Gotcha.” She leaned back a little. “But something’s not right. That blurry image never showed up. And what he said: ‘try and catch me’...” She paused. “Hey, wait a minute. Do you think he’s that high schooler they’re after?”

“It’s possible. But we can discuss more of this tomorrow.”

“Understood.”

“Bye Sensei!” Teddie said before Futaba hung up and turned off the phone.

She sighed. “Guess we have to wait until tomorrow, then.”


	11. Alibaba at Work

7/27 - Daytime

They all met up at Junes first thing in the morning, just like their leader requested. Futaba and Teddie went to check out the other side while the others discussed what was witnessed the previous night. Yosuke had suggested that perhaps the kid they saw was the killer and that he entered the TV world to hide. It did make a lot of sense, and so that was the conclusion they came to. Just as they finished up, Futaba and Teddie returned.

“No good,” the girl said. “We can tell there’s someone in there, but not much else.”

“There’s not enough information to go on,” Teddie added.

“So we just have to find out who that guy is.” Yosuke sighed. “And that means we have to go asking around for info, doesn’t it?”

They all looked at each other. It seemed like they would have to ask around town just to find out who this guy was. That was until Futaba smirked.

“Actually, I have an idea.” She pointed a finger upwards. “Everyone, to the Sakura Household!” She made her way towards the elevators while everyone looked confused at what she had planned. They decided to follow her anyways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gang arrived at Futaba’s place in due time. Once inside, she led them all up to her room which, surprisingly, was able to fit all of them just fine. Futaba sat down at her desk, passing a bag of chips to Teddie who sat down on her bed. The others spread out across the room.

“So, what are we here for, Futaba-chan?” Yukiko asked.

“Remember what that Naoto guy said?” she said. “The kid made some post online claiming he was the killer.”

Kanji looked at her. “Yeah, so?” 

“Well, I think it’s about time I put my hacking skills to use.” 

She typed on her keyboard and clicked her mouse a couple of times before pulling up a forum post. Sure enough, there was a user claiming to be responsible for the murder case in Inaba. There was no identifiable information in the post itself, and the poster was anonymous as well.

“Is that the guy they were talking about?” Yosuke asked, looking at the screen.

“I think so. Now then…” Futaba cracked her knuckles and leaned forward, typing furiously yet carefully as various screens popped up on her monitor. 

“So how are we gonna find out if they’re the kid on the Midnight Channel?” The brunette leaned back against the wall.

“Simple. If I tap into the data for the post, I can find the IP address of his computer. From there, I can access its database and search through it to hopefully find his name, and then reverse search online to see if it’s our guy or not!”

Everyone stared, confused.

“I’m going to hack into his computer to find out who he is.”

A unanimous “Oh” resounded throughout the room. She rolled her eyes and got back to work.

Rise put her arms on top of the chair. “You’re sure you’ll be able to find him like this?” She asked, skeptical.

“Positive.” She shooed the other girl away. “Now quit bothering me or we’ll never get anywhere.”

“Geez.” She sat down on the bed next to Teddie, taking a chip from the bag.

“Professionals do need their time to work,” Yu said.

Chie looked around the room, observing the posters on the walls. “I gotta say, this place looks super nerdy. Guess it fits her.” Her eyes landed on a couple of action figures. “Hey, aren’t these from that Featherman show?”

“Phoenix Rangers Neo Featherman,” Kanji said, looking at the figures as well. “These are premium figures too. I’m actually kind of jealous.” He went to grab one of them in order to inspect them.

“Ah--” Teddie handed the chip bag to Rise and quickly got off the bed, moving in between the shelf and the boy. “Futa-chan said not to touch her stuff.” Everyone stared at him. He looked between the rest of them. “What?”

Yosuke chuckled. “I didn’t think you would be the type to actually listen to rules.”

“How rude!” He pouted. “She was nice enough to let me live here. It’s only right that I listen to her!”

“BINGO!” Futaba slammed down on her desk, startling the others. They all crowded around her.

“You found the boy?” Yukiko asked.

“Mhm.” She pointed to her screen, showing a picture of the kid that was on the Midnight Channel. “That’s our guy; Mitsuo Kubo.”

“Amazing Futa-chan!”

“Mwehehe~” She laughed, pushing up her glasses in typical anime fashion. “I’m not an expert hacker for nothing, you know.”

“Then I guess we should get going,” Chie said. Everyone else agreed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How’s it looking, Ted?”

The bear sniffed at the air, pointing to somewhere off in the distance. “I’m getting a strong scent over thataway!”

“Same here. Let’s hurry and catch this kid, yeah?”

Everyone else nodded. It wasn’t long before they made their way to their next destination.


	12. Gamer's Paradise

“OhmygoshohmygoshOHMYGOSH!” As soon as they arrived at the dungeon, Futaba began fawning over it. “This is so cool! It’s like an actual video game in real life! The whole 16-bit architecture, the new game selection screen, everything is just… ahahaha!”

“Alright, calm down, Futaba-chan,” Yosuke said, patting her on the shoulder.

“You don’t understand!” She turned around. “It’s every gamer’s dream to be in a video game, and I actually get to live it!” She stomped her foot down. “Agh, now I wish I had a fighting Persona!”

“Speaking of fighting,” Yu mentioned. “What are Teddie and Rise’s Personas capable of?”

“Oh yeah, it would be a good idea to have that info before we head in.”

“Alright, give me a sec. Focus, Futaba.” She patted her face before hopping into Necronomicon. “Let’s see… for Ted, it looks like you’ve got a focus on ice and healing. You’ve got quite the responsibility there.”

“I’ll do my best!” He saluted.

“As for Rise… mostly support skills and some good physical skills as well.”

“Mostly support, huh?” She said. “I’ll be sure to help you out then, Senpai.” She looked at Yu.

“Okay, enough of that.” She hopped down. “Come on, I want to see the inside too!” She ran off into the dungeon.

Chie sighed. “Guess we should follow her…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saying it was like having a kid in a candy store was no exaggeration. Futaba obsessed over every detail of the place, almost running off on her own before one of the others brought her back to reality. Every now and then was a floor with teleporting hallways that almost looked like dead ends and corridors where the team would get snapped to a different direction and get disoriented. Futaba insisted they do the “side quests” that were on these floors, even though the rest of them doubted it would actually yield anything useful. They reached the top after a while, no thanks to Futaba’s ramblings, and stood in front of a large door. They needed a key of some sorts, and realized the orb they got from one of the “side quests” was the key. 

“‘These side quests won’t give us anything useful’ huh?” She said in a mocking tone.

“Alright, you don’t have to rub it in our faces,” Yosuke sighed.

Soon after, they opened the doors to find Mitsuo and his Shadow inside.

“Everyone gets on my nerves, that’s why I did it!” The boy said. “What do you think of that, huh?”

The Shadow remained silent.

“Nobody even acknowledged me after the first two, so I killed the third one. You hear me? I killed them!”

Still, it remained silent. 

“Say something you freak! What are you being so quiet for? ”

“Because… I feel nothing…” Its voice was low and quiet, almost like a whisper, but just loud enough to be heard.

“What are you talking about?”

“Wait… which one’s the Shadow?” Chie asked.

“I dunno, maybe the one with the yellow eyes and creepy aura around it?” Futaba said sarcastically. 

“I have nothing… I am nothing…” the Shadow continued. “And you… are me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m not nothing!” Mitsuo said.

“Stop!” Yukiko yelled. “If this keeps up…”

The boy turned around. “What? Who are you guys? How did you get in here?”

“What does it look like? We came after you,” Kanji said.

“Are you the killer?” Chie asked.

He began to laugh. “Of course I am. I’m the one behind everything!” He turned back around. “This imposter here has nothing to do with me. You hear that? Get out of my sight!”

It stayed silent.

“And the same goes for the rest of you, too!” He faced the group. “I’ll kill you all as well!”

“So you don’t accept me…” The Shadow’s voice came from behind him. Darkness built up around him before he emerged as a completely new being. Mitsuo fell unconscious only moments later.

“Here we go again…” Yosuke sighed.

“Once we beat him, this case is as good as closed.” Rise said.

The group fell into formation, readying themselves for whatever the Shadow had to throw at them. The Shadow, however, began forming some kind of shell around itself. Once complete, it looked like a character from an old RPG. 

“Woah, this is so cool!” Futaba looked amazed. “It’s like some sort of knight, like the guard to a castle… ooh, or maybe a hero! Wait, is this some sort of reverse story where the hero is the antagonist and--”

“Futaba!” they all yelled in unison.

“Okay, okay, sorry!” She hopped into Necronomicon, analyzing the Shadow in front of them. “It looks like it’s being protected by that outer shell. If you can break it down, you should be able to attack the main body.”

“Understood,” Yu said. “Then let’s get to it!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The battle waged on for longer than they had hoped. Part of it was dealing with breaking the shell down, which the Shadow put back up every so often; another part was the fact that it could one-hit any of them if their ailments weren’t cured in time, which led to a lot of close calls and a lot of healing items used up; and remaining part was because of Futaba geeking out over how the Shadow’s attacks were just like an RPG’s battle screen when the shell was up, and also her berating them about how they had more than enough time to dodge it’s attacks. The first few times were understandable due to confusion of what was happening, but in hindsight, there really was no reason why they couldn’t just move out of the way.

Once the Shadow returned to its original form, the boy it originated from stood up.

“Finally awake?” Yosuke seemed annoyed. 

“What?” He looked at the group. “You guys… who are you guys?”

“We’re here to talk,” Yu said.

“The police are after you, you know,” the brunette said. “They think you’re the one who killed King Moron and the other two. So… is it true?”

“All the cases… all on me…” Mitsuo began to laugh. “Yeah, that’s right! I did it! I killed all of them, it was me!”

The Shadow behind him turned into red mist, disappearing only seconds later. 

“What the… it disappeared?” Futaba said.

“Finally, that monster’s gone… take that, you...” He fell to the ground.

“H-hey!” Kanji said.

“He’s exhausted,” Rise explained. “We need to get him out of here.” 

Kanji picked him up as Yu used up a Goho-M and they returned to the entrance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mitsuo was put down on the floor by the TV as soon as they all returned to Junes. He regained consciousness a few moments later, everyone crowding around him. Looking around the area, he seemed dazed and confused.

“Where… am I?” He asked, his voice just above a whisper.

“Can’t you tell?” Yu asked. “It’s the Junes in town.”

“Why am I here? What are you guys? Why did the TV...”

“We have a bunch of questions for you, mister!” Teddie said. “First off, why did you do all of this? Answer in ten words or less!”

He looked at the bear. “What is that, a costume?” He weakly laughed. “What a loser… get out of my face, you freak.”

“Freak? Alright, that’s it!”

“Ted, stop, you’re not helping,” Yosuke said. 

“Did you really do it?” Yu asked him. “Are you the killer?”

“Get off my back. I already told you.”

“But why?” Rise jumped in. “How could you do something like this?”

“Three people are dead because of you,” Chie added.

He began to laugh. “Everyone’s talking about it, right? And I did it all by myself!”

“So you did this just for attention?” Yosuke angrily muttered.

“Then why target us as well?” Yukiko asked. “Why’d you kidnap us?”

Mitsuo looked over to the girl in red. “Well, look who it is… Hey Yuki. After all this time, now you want to talk?”

“Answer the question! If you held a grudge against me, that’d be fine, but why the others?”

“Haha, you’re so desperate it hurts… I didn’t care who it was. Everyone... everything annoys me.”

“You’re kidding me…” The brunette growled. “You killed Senpai over nothing?”

Kanji stepped forward. “I hope you’re ready to get what’s coming to you.”

“What? Are you gonna kill me?” He mocked.

He grabbed Mitsuo by his collar. “You think it’s gonna be that easy? You can never take this back. You’re gonna own up to your crimes and pay for what you did.” After a moment, he placed the boy back on the ground. “Dude, the cops.”

“Huh?” Yosuke stared at him.

“What are you waiting for? Call the police!”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right.” He pulled out his phone, dialing the number for the local police department.


	13. A Cause for Celebration

Not long after Yosuke made the call, the police came to get the boy. A lot of people crowded outside the department store, being drawn towards the commotion. One of the officers, a pretty clumsy-looking man, walked over towards the group of teens. He thanked them for their help and the police left only a moment later. After watching them go, the team gathered in the food courts at the picnic table.

“At least Adachi-san seemed happy…” Chie sighed.

“Then I guess this means our work is done, right?” Yosuke asked.

“The kid did it all for attention. I just can’t get my head around it. That’s just wrong…” She paused. “I mean, not that it would have been okay if he had another reason.”

“I know what you mean.”

“Let’s just leave the rest to the police,” Futaba suggested.

“My world will be peaceful again now,” Teddie said.

“Yeah, I’m glad.” Yukiko said. “We went through so much.”

“But... now that the case is solved, I guess we won’t be meeting up like this anymore, huh?” Kanji asked.

The table went silent.

Yu spoke up. “No, let’s keep meeting.” 

Yosuke smiled. “Of course we will, partner!” The rest of them agreed.

“Hey, I know! Why don’t we have a celebration?” Rise suggested. “We always have a wrap party after shooting. It’ll be fun and it can help give us closure.”

“I’m down.” Chie said.

“Ooh, I wanna go to Yuki-chan’s place!” Teddie exclaimed. “Yukata, hot springs, Mt. Fuji, and so much more!”

“Oh yeah, your family runs that famous inn in town, don’t they?” Futaba asked Yukiko.

“Mhm.” She nodded. “But I don’t think that’ll be possible today.”

“It is the busy season,” Chie said. “All the rooms must be taken up, huh?”

“So we can’t do a sleepover?” The blonde looked saddened.

“Next time, I promise.”

“Well whenever I’m in the mood for celebration, I always just go with a plateful of Sojiro’s curry.” Futaba got an idea. “Hey, how about we all get some curry from LeBlanc? My treat!”

“Curry?” Yukiko asked.

“Sojiro’s really good at making curry!” Teddie said. “And I want to try Ren’s coffee again!”

“Well I don’t know if he’s at work today, but that doesn’t mean we can’t stop by for a quick meal.”

“That sounds great,” Yu said. “Do you guys mind if Nanako comes along, too?”

“Huh? Who’s Nanako?”

“Ah, right. You never met her, did you?” Yosuke said. “She’s Yu’s younger cousin. Really sweet kid.”

“Oh yeah, sure. I wouldn’t mind.” She stood up. “Meet us at LeBlanc in about 10 minutes?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sojiro!”

Futaba walked in through the door to LeBlanc. Teddie, Rise, Kanji, Yukiko, and Yosuke followed behind her. The place was empty, as it usually was, which meant all the more room for their celebration.

Sojiro looked up. “Well, this is quite the party you have here.” He smiled. “If I remember correctly, you’re the ones who came to ask about Futaba a few months ago.”

“Yes, sir,” Yosuke nodded. 

“It’s nice to see you again, Sakura-san,” Yukiko said.

“Alright, small talk over. Now then, eight orders of curry, chop chop!” Futaba clapped her hands.

“Eight?” He sighed. “I hope you’re prepared to pay for everything…”

“Of course I am!”

They all took a seat; Kanji and Yosuke sat on the stools by the counter while the others took a seat at the table in the back.

“So, what’s the occasion?”

“Oh, uh…” She hadn’t actually thought of a good explanation. Futaba looked to the others for help.

Rise seemed to take the hint. “It’s a late finals celebration. Most of us were busy with work so we never had the time. Today just so happened to be a free day for all of us.”

“We thought we should bring Futaba along, too, so she doesn’t feel left out,” Yosuke added.

Sojiro smiled. “Heh, it’s nice to see you looking out for her.”

Futaba sat forward and whispered to Rise. “Nice save.” She got a wink in return.

The bell rang and attention turned to the door. Chie and Yu stepped inside followed by a small child with pigtails.

“Hey, we’re here,” Chie announced. “We brought Nanako, too.”

Futaba stood up and ran over. “Aww, she’s adorable!” She bent down. “Hello, Nanako-chan, I’m Futaba!”

“Are you one of big bro’s friends?” She asked.

She looked at Yu. “She calls you big bro? That’s so sweet!”

“Calm down, Futaba,” Sojiro said.

Yu laughed. “It’s fine.”

“Oh, I forgot to ask, would any of you like some coffee?”

About half of them accepted the offer. Sojiro then grabbed a couple of coffee beans from the counter.

“Can I have some too?” Nanako asked.

“Are you sure? It’s pretty strong.”

She nodded. “Dad makes coffee for me all the time!”

“Alright then. What kind do you want?”

“Cream and sugar!”

He chuckled. “Coming right up. Futaba, could you come help please?”

“On it!”

Futaba rushed into the alcove behind the counter, putting on an apron before getting a few ingredients from the shelf. Yu and Nanako sat across from each other at the table next to the others. Teddie moved over to sit next to the girl while Chie sat down at Rise and Yukiko’s table.

“You know, I’m kinda glad this whole thing is over now,” Chie said.

“I know, right?” Rise added. “It feels refreshing, not having to worry about the case anymore. It’s like finishing a book and seeing how the story finally ends.”

“Even though things are going to go back to normal.” Yosuke rested his arm on the counter. “Without anyone else getting thrown in, we have no reason to go back there.”

“Oh yeah, that means no more Personas either, huh?”

“I guess…” Teddie lowered his head. “This means I should go back to my world now.”

Nanako looked up at the blonde next to her. “Are you going somewhere?”

He nodded. “They kept their promise, so I have to.”

“Don’t worry about that Teddie,” Yu said. “You can stay here as long as you like.”

“But… it’s not good to break promises, right? I still have to keep my side of it.”

“A promise?” Nanako thought for a moment before getting an idea. “What if you made a promise with me? Then you wouldn’t have to go, right?”

“A promise with Nana-chan?”

She nodded, smiling. “Promise you’ll play with me, okay?” She put up her pinkie.

He stared for a moment before turning to Yu, as if unsure. All the silver-haired boy did was nod. Teddie smiled before facing Nanako again, wrapping his own pinkie around the smaller girl’s.

“I promise,” he said.

Plates of curry and cups of coffee were placed in front of the kids at the tables. “Alright people, enough talk. It’s curry time!” She sat next to Yu, a plate of curry in front of her.

“Thanks for the food!” everyone said before digging into their meal. Futaba and Kanji scarfed down their food while the others ate more slowly. Yu shared his plate with Nanako since he knew she probably couldn’t handle an entire plate by herself. After everyone finished, Futaba collected the plates and cups and began to wash them at the sink before returning her apron to its original location. She got a couple bills from her pocket, placing it on the counter for Sojiro to take.

“Thank you for having us, Sakura-san,” Yukiko bowed. The others expressed their gratitude as well.

“Don’t mention it.” He smiled.

The group left out the front door a moment later. It was still relatively light out.

“What do you say we all get some Topsicles to close things out?” Yosuke suggested.

“I’m in!” Teddie immediately replied. 

“Of course you are, dumb bear.” The brunette began messing with the blonde’s hair to the latter’s disapproval. 

“Oh, I just remembered!” Yukiko said. “There’s going to be a summer festival next month at the shrine. How about we all go together as well?”

“I’m down.” Futaba said. “I’ve never been to one, but it sounds exciting!”

“Do you have a yukata, Futaba-chan?” Rise asked.

“Not that I know of. And I doubt Sojiro would have one just lying around.”

“Then how about I buy you one?”

“Wait, yukata?” Teddie perked up. “I get to see the lovely ladies in yukatas?”

“Don’t get any ideas, Ted,” Chie warned.

“Can I come too?” Nanako asked.

“Of course!”

“Come on,” Kanji said. “The Topsicle shop will close down before we even get there at this rate.”

The rest of the day was rather lively.


	14. Preparations for a Festival

8/14 - Daytime

Rise called up Futaba early in the morning, insisting they go down to Okina to get a yukata for her. The festival was at the end of the week, she was reminded, and she had yet to buy one, so she agreed. Rise had gotten her license a couple days before, so she was going on the scooter she got from her work. Considering she wasn’t old enough to ride a scooter, and since she couldn’t legally hitch a ride with Rise, Futaba had to take the train, which meant it was going to be a while. But in due time, she arrived in Okina where Rise was waiting for her.

“Yo, sorry I’m late,” she greeted. “I hope you weren’t waiting long.”

“Oh, no, not at all!” Rise assured her. “I understand that the train takes longer than a scooter ride, so I don’t blame you.”

“Now then, where are we going exactly?”

“Croco Fur. It’s a clothing shop down here, and it usually has a selection of yukatas that I think you’d like.”

“Sounds like a fancy place. Is it expensive?”

She shrugged. “Depends on what you’re getting. But don’t worry, I can cover everything.”

The store was actually right next door to the station, so they didn’t have to walk far. The interior was very pink aside from the various clothes on the racks and shelves. A young looking woman was at the counter in the back. Lifting her head, she noticed the two girls.

“Hello, welcome to Croco Fur!” She looked at Rise and widened her eyes. “Oh, Kujikawa-san! What brings you here?”

“Hey there,” Rise said. “I need a yukata for my friend here. Do you think you could find one for her?”

The woman looked at Futaba and nodded her head. “Yeah, I can find something. Follow me.” She led them over to a rack at a far end of the store. It had all sorts of yukatas with different colors and designs. “Are you looking for anything in particular?”

It took a while for Futaba to realize the woman was talking to her, as silence washed over them for a few seconds. “Ah, n-no, just.. something to wear, hehe.”

Rise rolled her eyes. “We’re going to a summer festival back in Inaba.”

“Ah, in that case…” She pulled out a yukata amongst the others. It was a light green color, and it had a pattern of red ribbons and flowers in a variety of warmer colors, and the obi that went along with it was a light brown. “How about this one?”

“Ooh, it looks really pretty!”

“Why don’t you try it on?” Rise suggested.

She nodded and the woman took her into a changing room to help with putting it on. They came back out a couple minutes later. It was kind of long on her, as it almost reached the bottom of her feet, but considering her height, it was understandable. 

“It looks good on you!” Rise said.

“I take it you’re going with this one then?”

Futaba nodded and she went into the room to change back into her normal clothes. She came back out soon after, yukata in her hands.

“Will that be all?” the woman asked them.

“Yes, thank you,” Rise replied.

The two of them made their way to the counter where the woman rang up the yukata. Once Rise paid for it, the two girls walked outside into the sunlight.

“Is there anything else you want to do while you’re here?” The older girl asked.

Futaba shook her head. “Nah, I’m good. Besides, I shouldn’t leave Ted alone for too long.”

She laughed. “Yeah, knowing him, he’s bound to do something.”

“Well then, catch ya later.”

“Bye!”

The two parted ways, as Rise rode home on her scooter and Futaba took the train back to Inaba.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8/14 - Morning

(Meanwhile)

LeBlanc’s bell rang as the front door opened. Teddie looked around at the nearly-empty cafe until he spotted a messy-haired man in the back. It looked like it was just the two of them at this hour. Ren dried the last plate he had, placing it in the neat stack he had made and turned around.

“Ah, Teddie,” Ren said. “Futaba’s not with you today?”

The blonde sat down on one of the chairs. “Futa-chan said she and Rise-chan were going to buy her a Yukata for the festival.”

“Oh yeah, that’s at the end of this week, isn’t it?” He moved over to sit next to the boy. “Futaba’s really going?” 

He nodded. “Mhm. And all our friends are going too!”

“Sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun, then.” He sighed. “So anyways, what are you planning on doing while she’s out?”

“I…” He paused. “I don’t know, really.”

“Then why come here of all places?”

“I don’t have much else to do.” Teddie looked down. “And it gets lonely being all by myself.”

“I get what you mean.” Ren leaned back. “I don’t really have that many friends to hang out with... besides Futaba, of course.”

“Really?” He got a nod in response. “But you seem like you’d have a lot of friends!”

He laughed. “Well, I’m not exactly the popular kid. I usually keep to myself and focus on my studies. I don’t approach anyone, nobody approaches me, so there’s not a lot of people I know personally.”

“Then how did you meet Futa-chan?”

“This job is the entire reason.” Ren closed his eyes. “When I first started working here, it was just Futaba and Sojiro at this cafe. Futaba was still a bit of a shut in, so she was somewhat awkward around me at first. But as we spent more time around each other, she started to warm up to me and, well, here we are.”

Silence washed over them for a few moments. Ren seemed really nice, Teddie thought, and it was strange he didn’t have more friends. It was then that he got an idea.

“Hey Ren?”

“What’s up?”

“Is it alright if you become friends with me?”

Ren looked at him wide-eyed, surprised at the blonde’s question. Then he smiled softly and began laughing.

Teddie tilted his head. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no, it’s just… I didn’t expect you to say something like that.” He looked back at the boy. “If you really want to be friends with me, I don’t mind.”

Teddie smiled, looking up at Ren with his bright, blue eyes. “Now you won’t be so lonely anymore Renren!”

“Renren?” He chuckled. “That’s definitely a new one.”

The door’s bell rang and the two boys turned to see Sojiro coming in, holding a bag of ingredients. “I’m back-- oh, you’re here.” He turned to the blonde.

“Hello, sir!” Teddie said.

“Hey Boss.” Ren stood up. “Want me to help you restock?”

“If you could.” He handed the bag to Ren. The both of them went behind the counter and the boy began placing various food items in their respective locations on the shelves. “Were you here long?”

The blonde shook his head. “Renren and I were just talking.”

“Is that so?” Sojiro smiled. “In any case, do you want me to make you some coffee?”

“No thanks.”

“Really? Then what’d you come here for?”

“Futaba’s out with a friend of hers, so he came here,” Ren explained. “They’re getting her a Yukata for the summer festival.”

Sojiro widened his eyes. “Futaba’s going to the festival?”

“Yeah, she’s going with Teddie and their friends.”

The man glanced at the blonde. He soon relaxed, closing his eyes and smiling. “Never thought I’d see the day…” He turned to Teddie. “I know she’ll be in good hands.”

He nodded in understanding.

“Stock’s all sorted,” Ren said, returning to the counter.

Sojiro nodded. “Thanks, Amamiya.” His attention turned back to the blonde. “So, what are you planning on doing until Futaba gets back?” 

“I’m not sure. I don’t know if Sensei and the others are awake yet.”

“Don’t you have a phone?”

He shook his head.

“Not even a cell?”

“No, I never had one.”

Sojiro paused for a second. “Your parents leave you alone for months and they don’t even give you a phone?” he muttered. “They probably have their reasons but that just seems irresponsible...”

“I-It’s fine, sir!” Teddie said. “I’m okay without one.”

“That’s not what I’m concerned about, kid.”

“I’m sure they trust him if he’s staying with you and Futaba,” Ren said.

He sighed. “I guess, but I still don’t like the idea.”

Teddie shifted nervously. Futaba wasn’t here to formulate an explanation for him, so he didn’t know what to say. He just stayed silent in hopes that Sojiro wouldn’t question him.

“In any case,” Sojiro started. “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want. I’m sure Futaba will come here once she finds you’re not at our place.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You know you don’t have to keep calling me ‘sir’ all the time.”

“Ah, sorry si-- oh, uh…”

Sojiro began to chuckle and Teddie soon joined in. The morning passed by quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the last one are like 10 pages total in Google Docs, I think that's a new record for this fic.


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